News Brief
Vocational Training on the Rise But Can't Keep Up With Demand
Arizona Republic (05/03/13) Creno, CathrynWhile more Arizona high school students are receiving training for technical jobs, ranging from culinary arts to health occupations, growth is not happening quickly enough to fill jobs at some businesses. Educators say core academic requirements are too focused on math and science, and career and technical education continues to carry a stigma. However, "We can no longer afford to treat career and technical education as a dead end," says Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal, who touts career and technical education as a path to college and future employment. Last year, more than 100,000 students were enrolled in about 280,000 technical-education classes at their own high schools or at specialized schools like EVIT and West-MEC, representing a 12 percent increase from the 250,000 classes students took in 2007-08, according to the Arizona Department of Education. Huppenthal has expressed concerns about a $27 million state budget cut that scrapped ninth-grade education in technical schools at the start of the 2011-12 school year and continues this year.
To read the full article, click here